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Chapter 28: Chapter 27: Tough Chemistry

In the Senior Class 1 classroom, Li Dong stood at the lectern, the chalk in his hand drawing the last magnetic field line on the blackboard.

This was a classic model for a final, challenging problem on electromagnetic induction.

The motion of two metal rods on a conductive rail in a uniform magnetic field, with one rod connected to a capacitor.

”Actually, there’s no need for you all to be intimidated by this changing current.”

Li Dong pointed to capacitor C.

”I know that many students’ first reaction upon seeing a capacitor in series is to think it’s an open circuit, which means no current, right?”

”But you all overlooked one thing. This is a dynamic process. The capacitor is charging, and charging definitely involves a current.”

”In this model, what is the current, i? It’s the derivative of the charge, q, with respect to time, t.”

Li Dong casually wrote on the blackboard.

i = dq/dt = d(CU)/dt = C dU/dt.

”And the induced electromotive force is U = BLv, so dU/dt = BL(dv/dt) = BLa.”

”If we plug this into the formula for Ampere’s force... F_Ampere = BiL...”

Li Dong spread his hands.

”As long as you connect the current with acceleration, a, this problem is essentially just a variation of Newton’s Second Law: F_ext - C*B^2*L^2*a = m*a.”

”Once you rearrange this step, you get an identity for acceleration. The originally complex non-uniform acceleration instantly becomes uniform linear acceleration with an ’equivalent mass’ of (m + C*B^2*L^2).”

”There’s no need to integrate at all. Just plug it into the uniform acceleration formula, v^2 = 2ax, and you get the answer.”

The students of Class 1 looked at one another.

It was as if they were asking, ’What came out? The answer?’

”Does everyone understand?” Li Dong looked down from the stage and asked politely.

”Un... understood.”

Across the entire class, only Chen Yue nodded, his face a little pale.

Sitting in the back of the classroom, Zheng Hua saw this and nodded at Chen Yue in satisfaction.

’Mm, not bad. Chen Yue really is our school’s best student. He can actually keep up with Li Dong’s pace. He’s got great potential.’

At this moment, Director Zheng had clearly and completely forgotten that Li Dong was also a student at their Seventh Middle School.

DRING DRING DRING

The bell for the end of class finally rang. For most of the students, it was a sweet relief.

It wasn’t that what Li Dong was teaching was difficult.

On the contrary, they felt his explanation was a bit easier to understand than Zheng Hua’s. Plus, he would occasionally throw in some extra tips, which was a huge help.

It was just that Li Dong was their peer, and the pressure of that was too much to bear.

Li Dong tidied up the papers on the lectern. Just as he was about to walk out, Chen Yue threw an arm around his shoulder.

”Dongzi! What’s up with you?”

Chen Yue lowered his voice.

”How did you suddenly get so damn good? That ’equivalent mass’ trick just now... Old Zheng never teaches us anything that deep!”

At this, Chen Yue suddenly seemed to remember something.

”Holy shit! I heard a rumor that the person who came in first in the Huaxuan Cup preliminaries was named Li Dong. I thought it was just someone with the same name. Don’t tell me that was actually you?”

Hearing that his legend had already begun to spread, Li Dong felt a secret thrill, but he didn’t want to crush Chen Yue’s confidence.

After all, back in their first and second years, Chen Yue was one of the few friends who didn’t look down on him for his poor grades and was still willing to lend him notes.

”Luck. It was all luck.”

Li Dong waved his hand dismissively.

”You have no idea how miserable my life has been these past two days.”

”Ever since I signed up for the Huaxuan Cup, Teacher Zheng and Old Yang have been locking me in the office every day for intensive training.”

”We’re talking training from morning till night. That’s the only reason I’ve started to get a feel for physics.”

”That problem from just now? It just so happens that Teacher Zheng went over a similar one with me the day before yesterday.”

Li Dong explained in great detail, doing his best to attribute everything to the tutoring of his excellent teachers.

After hearing this, Chen Yue felt somewhat relieved.

However, he didn’t feel any jealousy or resentment over Li Dong’s sudden rise.

That was just the kind of person Chen Yue was—incredibly level-headed.

’If you score well, that’s because you’re awesome. I just need to worry about myself.’

He had his own clear goal: getting into Sichuan University.

”Alright, Dongzi! Looks like our Seventh Middle School is about to produce a true dragon.”

Chen Yue punched Li Dong lightly on the chest.

”Since you’re so good at physics now, I’ll be coming to you with any problems I don’t get. Don’t you dare hold out on me.”

”Of course. What are friends for?” Li Dong agreed with a smile.

”Can’t chat anymore. I need to get back for the next class, which is chemistry.”

The mention of chemistry made Li Dong’s temper flare.

That bearded Mendeleev had sworn in the group chat that there would be a ”handsome reward,” but several days had passed without so much as a peep!

’I sent the blueprints, I explained the principles... at least give me some feedback!’

’Can’t you learn from Newton? That guy sends Concentration at the drop of a hat. I don’t even have to fleece him; it just falls off him on its own!’

’Sigh... Forget it. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.’

Li Dong said goodbye to Zheng Hua and Chen Yue, then turned and returned to the Senior Class 2 classroom.

The moment he arrived, the class fell silent.

The silence lasted for two or three seconds before everyone went back to what they were doing.

But as Li Dong returned to his seat, he could feel everyone sneaking glances at him from time to time.

Especially Misha!!

’So this... is what it’s like to be a top student?’

But this kind of treatment was inevitably accompanied by a sense of distance.

Even Liu Liang, with whom he used to be very close, barely spoke to him now.

In schools with a more toxic environment, this could even escalate into ostracism.

But Li Dong didn’t care.

He opened his chemistry book and shook his head.

’A top student isn’t afraid of being isolated, because... I’m going to isolate everyone else.’

DRING DRING DRING

The bell for the start of class rang again.

Their chemistry teacher, Su Yuhua, walked into the classroom.

She was a veteran chemistry teacher at Seventh Middle School. She was usually very conscientious in her teaching and quite responsible toward her students, but she was also rather rigid, never expanding on related topics for them.

For a school like Seventh Middle School, which had an average student body, this teaching method was actually the safest bet.

As long as you followed her and memorized the material, passing chemistry was guaranteed. But if you wanted to excel, it was very difficult.

”Take out your monthly exam papers. We’ll start with fill-in-the-blank question 26, on organic inference.”

Teacher Su opened the exam paper on the lectern.

Li Dong looked at his chemistry exam paper, on which he had scored an 88, and took a deep breath.

Even without a red packet from Newton, his own base Concentration was now 0.2.

Combined with [Logic: 0.1] and [Memory: 0.1].

Li Dong tried to analyze chemistry using Joule’s ”deconstruction method,” just as he did with physics and mathematics.

’A is an aromatic hydrocarbon with the molecular formula C8H10, so it’s either ethylbenzene or xylene.’

’Oxidation produces benzoic acid, which means it’s a side-chain oxidation.’

He found that he could indeed absorb the material. He could memorize the equations and reaction conditions in the textbook after reading them just once.

But...

Li Dong quickly realized something was wrong.

With math and physics, as long as he grasped the core axioms, he could logically deduce many related corollaries.

But chemistry wasn’t like that.

’Why does this reaction proceed this way under acidic conditions, but completely differently with another catalyst?’

He didn’t want to rely on rote memorization, but he just couldn’t understand it.

He even tried to force an explanation using the micro-level logic of physics, for instance, by analyzing it with orbital hybridization theory.

But he soon discovered that chemistry was full of all sorts of exceptions.

He was missing one thing.

Chemical Intuition.

This wasn’t some kind of metaphysics; it was the accumulation of experience.

When a chemistry expert sees a structural formula, they can immediately visualize its spatial configuration and reactive sites.

But the current Li Dong couldn’t do that.

’Can I only rely on rote memorization?’

This left Li Dong feeling rather helpless.

Although he could get high scores with rote memorization thanks to his 0.1 Memory, the learning experience, devoid of any ”sense of control,” made someone like him, who was used to a god’s-eye view, feel extremely stifled.

When the bell for the end of class rang, Li Dong closed his book and let out a long sigh.

’What the hell is that bearded Mendeleev doing?’

Li Dong couldn’t help but complain in his head.

’I already sent you a plane, and that’s still not enough?’

’Do I have to send a Carnival?’

The more Li Dong thought about it, the angrier he got. He couldn’t resist pulling out his phone and opening the ”Cyan Dragon Study Group”.

He decided he would pretend to ask if the bearded man had run into any trouble and needed his help.

But just as he was about to @Mendeleev...

A new message suddenly popped up.

[Mendeleev]: SOS!!!!!!